


Rise and Shine

by KEBKEN



Category: Bleach
Genre: Disabled Character, Drama, Friends as Family, Gen, Mijime is heavily invested in fashion for some reason, Multi, Orihime will be a legit character in this one, Slice of Life, everyone bullies Kisuke, won't be comletely canon compliant, wouldn‘t be one of my works if there wasn’t
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-03 00:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16315337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KEBKEN/pseuds/KEBKEN
Summary: When Mijime Fuse was a child, he lost his arm. As a teenager he lost his home and as an adult he had to take care of a crazy scientist and his adopted family. Then a new soul reaper shows up in Karakura and makes everything even more complicated.Life at the Urahara shop was good. Maybe a little boring but trouble would always find Kisuke and with that the rest of the shop team. Mijime doesn't really mind. At least he's getting payed for everything.Illustrations in every chapter!





	1. Just another day at Urahara Shop

**Author's Note:**

> Big mess that hasn't been beta read yet but I hope someone will be able to enjoy reading it anyways.

 

**I**

 

Being lonely feels like a pain that never ends but love is just as corrupting in its very own way.  Most people never truly understand either without experiencing the consequences that come with each of them. Being lonely is sad but being in love is good. It’s that easy for most.

 

Ever since he could remember, Mijime Fuse had been by himself. It was sad really, considering that this was supposed to be his afterlife and yet he was sure that it had been worse up to this point than his time being alive had ever been. Not that he knew for sure. But the child had refused to believe that he had been a homeless child in the worst slum that had ever existed before he had come here.

 

Because that was what he was now. The black haired child frowned as he thought about it.

 

Currently said boy was sitting on the front porch of a small wooden cottage. The small hut had been build hidden in an old forest what must have been thousands of years ago. The roof had a big hole in it, so big in fact that one could say that it was only half of a roof at this point.

 

But sleeping in a hut with half a roof had been better than sleeping in the dark and damp streets of the slums without a roof at all.

 

One of Mijimes small hands gripped the splitting wood underneath it, his empty black eyes directed towards the forest as he noticed a small noise coming from its direction. He could sense something there, he was sure of it.

 

While time seemed to have stopped for Mijime, the world around him had not come to a halt. The leaves of the trees that were surrounding him rustled in an uneven manner as the tapping of sandals approached in a pleasant rhythm across the grass and earth.

 

„ Ah, it’s quite dangerous to be all by yourself in a far of place like this, wouldn’t you agree?“ A deep voice rumbled. Mijime directed an empty stare to the person that had revealed himself by speaking up, and said nothing in return. It didn’t matter who this person was, no one who wasn’t dangerous came here.

 

A warm smile crossed the mans face as he continued to step closer. Hadn’t Mijime known that no nice people crossed these parts he might have even been fooled by the show of friendliness but the boy knew better. His opposite had stopped in front of him. A large shadow towered over the boy and when he angled his head to look up he took in the visage of the brown haired man above. Black, thick glasses framed the young mans smiling eyes. The brown orbs pierced the child in an unpleasant way.

 

„ What do you want?“ Asked the child in return. His hands grip on the wood had tightened and the loose splinters had started to be drenched in red. It hurt but also helped Mijime stay grounded. This man was dangerous. If he didn’t pay attention even for a second everything about his pathetic live would be ended. He didn’t want that.

 

The black clad man kneeled down to the boys level and spoke up, a soft smile still upon his lips: „ Nothing. I am simply worried what a child like yourself is doing in a far of place like this?“

 

„ Living.“ Mijime answered bluntly. The black clad man, a shinigami, he reeked of blood. The kid had dealt with a fair share of shady people but not once in his life had he been as uncomfortable in anyone’s presence.

 

The man chuckled „Is that so. In that case, I need your help, little one.“ The brown eyes had turned into daggers but Mijime barely noticed, too distracted was he with the blade cutting him down in a swift strike.

 

Death would have been preferable to the strings of fate that had taken hold of him in that moment.

 

 

**II**

 

 

Life at the Urahara Shop was always weirdly fun. Mijime liked the crew of abnormal people he was living with. They were family. At the beginning it had been weird, he had been an ex student from the shinigami academy living with three ex high ranking officials in exile. But that what they had in common was what had brought them together in the end. Exile.

 

Nothing brought people more together than shared pain, Mijime knew that. It had been the same with himself and his old best friends. But for him that was only partially why the others had become family to him. The time he had called Kisuke by is first name for the first time and how the shopowners face had lit up. He could remember how exciting it had been to be trained by Yoruichi for years. How much fun he had late at night, throwing every possible question about Kido at Tessai. How much he loved Jinta and Ururu. Those moments of companionship were what had brought them together.

 

Sometimes it felt like a double edged sword, to be that happy. The happier he was the more he remembered the times he wasn’t. Mijime missed a lot of things but his obliviousness to the things around him he missed the most.

 

The shop was empty as usual as Mijime sat behind the counter, waiting for potential customers. He was sitting on a foldable wooden chair and was reading a fashion magazine lazily while sipping on a cold and half empty cup of tea. His eyes strayed to the open doorway. Empty. A yawn. How boring.

 

He felt something shift behind him before he saw the shadow of a cat slide by him. Yoruichi jumped up on the table from behind him. She stared at him until she had walked directly in front of him and sat down on the magazine he had been reading. He stared. She stared back. They did this for a minute until  Mijime let out a sight and put down his head on the cats back in return.

 

„I’m bored senpai.“, the black haired man complained into her fur. „There’s never any customers during school time.“

If a cat could look amused, Yoruichi would have changed her expression. „And your fashion literature isn’t keeping you entertained? After we‘ve put them on regular order just for you?“

„ A piece of paper is not a good replacement for human interaction, “ He mumbled „Not that you‘d know that. You live with Kisuke.“ That got a snort out of the cat. „ You’re not wrong.“ she agreed „But so do you.“

 

„Did you know your hair looks like a clump of seaweed from the back, Miji-can? I just noticed coming up behind you.“ She continued on, sniggering. „ Sometimes I feel like you only exist to be rude, senpai.“ Mijime replied while staring into one of the wooden walls. „At least I don’t look like a homeless person, like Kisuke.“ He clicked his tongue. „ I don’t think the man would understand fashion if you hit him with it.“

 

They could hear someone hold back their laughter in front of the shop. Tessai seemed to agree with them.

 

„Hey now, I’m absent for such little time and you’re already going off about me behind my back!“ Urahara exclaimed feigning a hurt voice. „And I’m even paying you for this?“ The man hadn’t even entered the room yet, only his silhouette visible behind the thin sliding door in the back of the room. And yet, already the man was busy complaining.

 

„Boss, I’m bored.“ Mijime stated boldly „ Nothing is going on. How are we even earning any money at this point.“ The door opened with a quick swipe. Urahara stepped into the room, his ( in Mijimes very professional opinion) ugly hat concealing the upper half of his face. And before the black-haired man was even able to analyze the form of Kisukes mouth, a fan went up to hide the lower part too.

„ Miji-kun, as impatient as ever.“ The shop owner chided. „ Like you‘re not, boss. You’re obviously planning something again and not telling us. It’s always like that when nothing visible is happening here. If you were just as bored there would be definitely something to do here, even if we only had to clean up another one of your messes.“

 

 

 

 

„Tsk, ever suspicious.“, it was very apparent to everyone that Urahara hadn’t denied a thing. The moment Mijime felt Yoruichi start to stretch, he lifted his head of the cat. He fell back into his chair as she took a few lazy steps into Kisukes direction.

 

„I agree with our kid here, Kisuke. It’s been too quiet. Suspiciously so.“, her eyes narrowed „Maybe you should open up to us a little more. We are family here after all, yes?“ The deep voice of the cat sounded sweet, though it was impossible to miss the silent promise of deep disappointment if Urahara refused to answer. The green clad man seemed to have caught the hidden message and began to shake his small paper fan rapidly in front of his mouth.

 

„You would not believe me if I told you I’m not up to something, so I’m not even going to bother. However.“ The fan closed with a loud snap. „I have been seeing a new Shinigami running around Karakura Town, so trouble is likely to follow.“ Kisuke ended his explanation with a grin.

 

Yoruichi and Mijime looked at each other. Then back at the smiling scientist. Urahara visibly tensed up in frustration when the duo let out a dejected and synchronized sight. Yoruichi muttered out a quick „ Have fun cleaning up, Miji-chan“ as she ran past the blondes legs into the back of the building.

 

Mijime stared ahead blankly. Urahara went ahead to record their stock in the surrounding shelves, and Mijime felt like he was dying out of boredom again.

 

———————-

 

It had been another semi successful day at the shop when Mijime went to close the front door of the establishment the moment he saw the sun set. The few usual students that stopped by after school to buy some random trash, people asking for directions, an old granny ( Tsume-chan, Mijime liked her a lot for her sarcastic streak that showed each week when they talked about the last piece of breaking news.) picking up her weekly newspaper and so on. The cashier stopped for a moment to look at the setting sun through the treetops surrounding the building before he shook his head and continued on back into the shop.

 

On the inside Tessai was busy cleaning the floor with a broom. As usual the hunk of a man was wearing a soft pink apron with a thick line of text ( „ WELCOME TO URAHARA SHOP!“) written on it in uneven letters. It had been a gift from Mijime years ago but the co owner of the shop seemed to still keep it in high regards. Mijime appreciated the sentiment a lot, as back in the day when he had made it he had struggled with keeping the writing even as he only had one arm and had lacked the second one to keep the fabric even enough to properly write on it.

 

When the younger man walked back to the direction of the counter, Tessai looked up from the floor. „ Ah, Mijime-kun. Ururu told me to tell you, that she will be cooking for us this evening.“ Mijime waved his hand in acknowledgment while walking past the man. He used the same hand to slide open the back door and disappeared out of the other mans sight. On his way to the kitchen he could already smell Ururus cooking. Following the trail Mijime soon found his way into the kitchen.

 

Jinta was busy filling out papers, most likely homework, on the small table and the black-haired girl was running around the kitchen counters preparing several parts of what looked like it was going to be a big dinner. Both of them spared a glance into the mans direction a quick „Yo! / Good evening!“ falling from both of their lips. Then they went back to their respective work, even when Mijime sat down at the table next to Jinta.

 

„ I heard you beat up an upperclassman again, kid.“ He addressed the red haired child. Mijime had gotten a letter earlier that day mentioning said incident. Ever since the two children had started living at the shop, all the parenting paperwork had fallen onto the one-armed man.

„ What if I did?“ Jinta questioned immediately. „ I would ask you why you would do that.“ Mijime replied fluidly.

The child put down his pen and furrowed his brows.

„ Guy was bragging about joining a shitty Yakuza family. Yakuza my ass. That dude just thought of that to scare others out of their cash. When I called him out on it the guy went apeshit and I defended myself.“ They locked eyes. Mijimes flat ones stood in contrast to the fire burning in Jintas. Ururu watched both of them worriedly over her shoulder, careful to not let any of the vegetables in the pan burn.

 

„ I see.“ The elder nodded. „Thank you for explaining the situation to me.“ Jintas whole body sagged together in relief but tightened up again as Mijime continued on. „ Still, this only shows how much you have left to learn.“ the adult let out a sight. „ Beating up a guy for something like that? You should be able to stop him with a single hit. Double amount of combat training next week.“ That got a frustrated growl out of the redhead and a chuckle out of the girl listening in from the back. When Jinta heard said girl giggle he shot her a furious glare that made her squeak and return fully to her cooking. Mijime gave Jinta a tired glare in return. „Fuck off. What are you? My Dad?“ the red headed child complained.

 

————

 

„ We have some work to do.“

 

It had been late in the evening when Urahara had barged into Mijimes bedroom. He had been stitting at his work table, busy going through the next list of orders for the shop. The younger man looked up to the green clad man after the sudden declaration.

 

„ We do?“ Kisuke answered the question with a small nod, his hand on the top of his head, holding the abysmal hat in place. Mijime looked back at his halfway done paperwork before he stood up and followed Urahara out of the room.

 

 

He grabbed his short gray haori on the way out and struggled to slip into his sneakers when they left the house through the front door. Urahara seemed tense, his posture rigid when he shunpoed out of Mijimes sight. And when the black-haired male felt the release of a massive amount of spiritual pressure from the direction of Isshins clinic, he understood why.

 

„It’s not Isshin, is it?“ He asked the older man as he cought up to him with his own shunpo. His face held a neutral expression like always but Kisuke could see Mijimes tense posture out of the corner of his eye. „No, it has to do with our cute little shinigami that was stationed here. Though I’m not sure about the details of the situation yet but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.“ Kisuke stopped his explanation as they arrived at the Kurosaki residence. Strong waves of unsuppressed spiritual pressure seemed to have taken a hold of the air around them.

 

The whole place was a mess. A big hole had been ripped into the side of the small clinic. Mijime could make out the beaten bodies of Isshin and his daughters, Yuzu and Karin if he remembered correctly, spread throughout their destroyed home. They were all still alive. The lingering spiritual pressure of a hollow clued him in on what had caused the mess. However, what stood out the most to the duo, as they walked down the friendly neighborhood street, was the small woman and the teenager lying on the ground next to the destroyed house. Wasn’t that Ichigo, Isshins other kid? Unconscious. In shinigami uniform. Oh no.

 

„ You look like you could use some help, miss Shinigami.“ Kisuke greeted the other shinigami with a big smile. The woman looked up to them in surprise. Her loose black hair fell over her shoulders in a mess. One could actually hear the wheels turning in her head as she eyed them. Deciding not to interrupt the young man stood by the side and and kept an eye on the conversation as he made his way over to Isshin.

 

Kisuke listened to the explanation of the woman that had apparently decide that the two were not a threat. It was a story so ridiculous ( She had given her Shinigami powers to a teenager. Who in their right mind would do that.) that he wasn’t even surprised that they had gotten involved in it and when Urahara offered her their help, Mijime felt a bad feeling settle in his stomach.

 

He had no problem cleaning up this mess, but Kisuke never did anything without good reason. He adored the man but Mijime also wasn’t blind to the guys bad habits.

 

Surely Kisuke wouldn’t use this situation.

 

Kisuke wouldn’t, would he? His worries were confirmed as he offered the woman, Rukia Kuchiki was her name, a gigai.  „Don’t worry, Miss Kuchiki. We’ll take care of this. “ Urahara promised her, sending a look into Mijimes direction.

 

As Mijime went ahead to wipe the memories of the Kurosaki family, he felt like a hypocrite for judging Kisuke for his actions. He wasn’t much better for going along with them himself after all. It was all fine though.

 

They had both never claimed to be good people.

 


	2. Slice of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mijime meets Rukia Kuchiki and hangs out with Kisuke. Some other stuff happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically just here to establish relationships with others that were only mentioned in the first. It's the first time I'm writing something with multiple chapters so I'm not sure it worked out well lmao. Anyways, enjoy!

The Next time Mijime met Rukia Kuchiki, was when she came by to order something from their store. She stood proud in her new gigai, as if she hadn’t just lost her shinigami powers a few days earlier. This time she was wearing the Karakura school uniform and her black hair was perfectly styled.

 

„Is the manager here?“ she asked straight to the point. „I need to order something“ she elaborated. The black-haired man blinked at her from behind the counter. So much energy this early in the morning. Unbelievable. „Probably, but it will be easier to just tell me your order.“ He stood up and grabbed a piece of paper from a small shelf behind him. „I work here too.“ he explained. Rukia observed him while he had his back turned to her. Her eyes fell on his right arm, or where an right arm should have been. Mijime only had a haori covered stump left. Then she locked onto his waist, her search for a zanpakuto unsuccessful.

 

After Mijime had sat down she opened her mouth again: „ You were there too, when Urahara helped me out, right?“ The black-haired man gave a nod before going on to talk himself. „ Yeah. I forgot you don’t know my name. It’s Mijime Fuse. You’re Rukia Kuchiki, right?“ He tapped on the table with his fingers. „Quite the trouble you got yourself into Kuchiki-san.“ the cashier continued in a bored tone. Rukia looked like she was going to answer herself before Mijime went to interrupt „ We‘ll help little old you out, don’t worry.“ He put his hand on the table, grabbed a pen and gave the shinigami a small smile. „So, what did you want to order?“

 

A grateful smile formed on her face. Her posture seemed to have relaxed. That was good. Mijime didn‘t like making people particularly uncomfortable ( With the exception of Kisuke, of course.) so he was glad to see that the woman had calmed down. She had been through enough during the last few days. That’s what Mijime thought at least.

 

„ I need some soul candy.“ She went on to fiddle with the end of her skirt. „I heard there’s a new chappy version?“ Ah. How cute. With a nod the black-haired man quickly went through a drawer under the table. Then he put the catalogue he had just dug out on the table and pushed it in front of his customer. Rukia took a step forward and browsed the thin catalogue while Mijime explained. „ It might be hard to get our hands on a chappy one. They’re awfully popular.“ Not like it was easy for them to get products from soul society anyways but she didn’t need to know that. He pointed at the soul candy holder with a big green frog character on top of it. „ I however personally do think Kaneshiro is very cute as well.“ The Kuchiki nodded in agreement. „ They’re all amazing! But I really need the chappy one!“ There was an incredible amount of passion in her eyes when she looked at him with determination. „ I really, really need the chappy!“

 

 

 

 

 

„I uh, I‘ll see what I can do miss Kuchiki, but I don’t want to promise something and not deliver.“ Mijime answered. He leaned back in his chair nervously. She was a loyal fan then, huh? Who would’ve thought. „ Amazing! Thank you.“ She replied with a smile that seemed just a tad to sweet. After quickly filling out the order form he stood up, taking the filled formula with him. „ Come back in around three days and your order will be waiting for you.“ He walked in front of the table, next to the shinigami. While Mijime wasn’t particularly tall, he still managed to tower over the small woman. „ Before I send you on your way, I would like to ask whether all the other equipment we have provided you with is working fine? We sometimes get buggy tech without realizing before selling it.“ And they had almost gotten in big trouble that one time too.

 

Rukia shook her head. „ No everything is working just fine. I’ll let you know if something isn’t in good condition.“ She promised. „ Ah thats good then. I wish you a nice day miss Kuchiki.“ With a small bow he turned around at the same time as Rukia went to leave the store. „ Same to you, Fuse-san!“

 

——————

 

„ Kisuke, sometimes I have the feeling you don’t even know what you’re doing yourself.“ Mijime told the man as he entered said mans bedroom. The shop owner had once again holed himself up in his room. So as usual, one of the others living at the shop had come do drag him out of it. This time it had been Mijime. Kisuke ( Who wasn’t wearing his hat for once.) was hunched over his table, tons of papers filled with scribbles about god knows what surrounding him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Kisuke wasn’t just an insane man but also an incredibly talented scientist. There was a hard expression on the blonde man’s face. „ I know that I did what I had to do but, these decisions are never easy.“ Kisuke explained. Mijime sighed and closed the door behind himself while he walked over to Kisukes bed and let himself fall on it. „ You wanna know what I think?“ He told the blonde as he stared at the celling. Not bothering to wait for a response from Kisuke he went on. „ I think, you need a distraction. At this point all we can do is wait for Aizens next move anyways. There’s no need to fill that time with doubt and self loathing.“ His left arm had unconsciously grabbed what was left of his right one.

 

Kisuke looked at Mijime for a moment. His gaze softened before he stood up and put his notes away. „ You’re right. We‘ve spent enough years moping around.“ The younger man sat up from the bed. „ Let’s spar a bit, yeah?“ Kisuke suggested. „ I feel like we will need to sharpen up a bit again. Aizen has been quiet but he won’t wait forever.“ With a smooth move Mijime stood up from the bed and put a hand on Kisukes shoulder. „ Sounds good to me.“ He told him. „ Maybe I’ll finally beat you this time, old man.“

 

„Rude.“ Kisukes eyebrow was twitching. „ I’m not that old.“ Mijime eyed the man with doubt. „ Could’ve fooled me, with the way you dress and all.“ The shop owner, who had just put on his hat looked at Mijime. „ You’re wearing a hakama and haori yourself, you fashion icon.“ He said smugly. Mijime looked Urahara dead serious into the eyes. „ Yeah but it’s retro fashion combined with modern style, not „I was born over 500 years ago, please help me.“- style. It’s what the kids call „in“ and „hip“.“

 

When Tessai walked by the room later that day, he could still hear both men arguing. When he slid open the door a bit to peek inside a smile came to his face. Both Kisuke and Mijime were aggressively pointing at different fashion magazines, trying to prove the other what proper human fashion looked like. Tessai knew that fashion had never been something that had drawn Kisukes attention in particular but whenever Mijime talked down to the blonde about the subject both of them appeared to suddenly be experts on the subject.

 

The big man shook his head, a smile still on his face. Kisuke had always been a bad loser. But he would prefer this side of his friend over a depressed and self-loathing mess anytime.

 

—————

 

Three days later, Mijime had gotten up early. The kitchen had still been empty when he had entered it. His body shivered when he opened the fridge. He was still only wearing the short clothes he had slept in. Almost putting his head into the cold fridge, he grabbed something to drink and looked through the cupboards for rice seasoning afterwards.

 

 

 

„ Bottom left drawer.“ Ururu muttered softly as she entered the room. She rubbed her eyes with a fist and fell into her seat at the table only moments later. „ Thank you, Uru-chan.“ Mijime said gratefully as he put the seasoning into the rice that Tessai must have cooked even earlier. „ Did you sleep well?“ He asked as he set down a bowl for her. He turned back to get one for himself as well and went to sit down the moment Ururu answered. „ I did. Did you?“ She inqured back. The man stared at his food. „ It was fine. Dreams as usual. You know how it is with me.“ She gave a solemn nod.

 

Mijime had always had weird dreams ever since he had lost his arm. It was nothing unusual at this point. It resulted in him sleeping badly every night and with that came his chronic dark circles underneath his eyes. You could only dream about getting killed so many times without waking up every hour.

 

They finished their meal in silence. Mijime was the first to leave the kitchen. After that he got dressed in black skinny pants and a shirt, tied up some of his hair in the back of his head and left the shop for a walk.

 

The sun had risen and the sky was clear. The one-armed man closed his eyes in relief when he sat down on a bench in one of the nearby parks. The sun shone on him through a tree, the warm specks of light heating up spots in a pleasant way. It had been quiet the last few days. All the hollows that had popped up had been taken care of by their new residential soul reaper. No need for Mijime to do any work when the assigned shinigami was too sloppy. It felt luxurious.

 

„ Ah! You up early too, Miji?!“ The man’s silence was interrupted. When he opened his eyes he got a face full of Isshin Kurosaki almost mashed against his forhead. The bearded man was smiling brightly at the other one. „ Oh, good morning Shin.“ The younger man sad blandly, his black eyes emotionless as usual. „ Shouldn’t you be at the clinic?“

 

 

 

„ Not yet! I was going for my usual morning run.“ Kurosaki stroke a pose, flexing his muscles. „ These bad boys don’t come from nothing!“ He exclaimed with a smug smile. „ You know, you should take a run with me. Look how skinny you small leggos are.“ He had put is leg next to Mijimes, dwarfing them in comparison. Mijime could feel his eye twitch. Fucking rude.

 

„ Urgh, they do what they need to do.“ He deflected, not interested in a run to the death with Isshin. The Kurosaki put on a way to thoughtful expression for the conversation they were having and nodded. „ Indeed. Whelp, see ya later my brother from another mother!“ And with that Isshin continued to run past him. That man was a desaster. Mijime had respectet the man a lot when they had first met but at this point the only emotion he felt when seeing the man was sadness. Sadness for the poor family that had to deal with that man daily.

 

After that encounter Mijime stood up and went on his way back to the shop. He had almost arrived when the small flip phone in his pocket began to ring. It was Kisuke calling. Flipping the phone open he held it to his ear. „ What’s up boss?“ He asked immediately. „ Miji-kun we got a little problem at our hands here. Might be good for you to come back.“ Urahara told him happily. „ Sure thing. I was on my way back anyways. See you later.“ Mijime truly did like the quiet but cleaning up after Kisuke was its own brand of fun.

 

————-

 

„ One of the incorrect mod souls was sold to Kuchiki-san.“ Repeated Mijime what Kisuke just had told him. Tessai, Jinta and Ururu were all standing next to him. Ururu looked up at the black haired man with tears in her eyes. „ I didn’t mean to!!! I thought I- I really thought I did go- It’s my fault!“ She desperately tried to explain herself. „ Don’t worry Uru-chan.“ Mijime interrupted her. „ But it was my fault! You’re mad! Right, Kisuke-san?“ Kisuke turned towards her when he heard her question. Then he bent down and reached his hand out to the girl, who flinched back almost immediately. Mijime and Tessai exchanged a glance at that. They definitely needed to look into that reaction. They all knew there were reasons why Jinta and Ururu didn’t live with their original families. Though they apparently hadn’t been quite aware of the scale of things.

 

Kisukes hand settled on top of the girls head and ruffled her hair. „ Not at all!“ Kisuke exclaimed loudly. „ It’s no big deal!“ He went on with a big open mouthed smile. „ Why are you crying? We‘re a team right?“ Ururu fell into his arms, hugging Urahara tightly. „ Don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything!“

 

Mijime looked at them, warmth filling his chest at the sight. This is why he loved living with these people. They were not only a team but the best team. A smile was on his lips when they all took their weapons of choice and began to leave the yard in front of the shop together. Jinta putting their determination into voice with a shouted „ Yeah!“

 

It had been a while since he had used his Zanpakuto in a fight. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t a bit excited.

 

 


	3. A Pattern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo and Mijime finally meet. Orihime and Chad enter the scene and plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still going strong aye. Mijime is so indecisive, doesn't know if he wants to be lazy or just beat up some hollows. He also severely underestimates what it means that Yoruichi doesn't hold back during training, but he has nothing to compare their powers to so it's to be expected, really. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

 

 

They had run forever until they had found the mod soul on the rooftops of karakuras school. Multiple people had grouped up on the roof. One of them was Kuchiki and the other two were the same person: Ichigo Kurosaki. The only difference between them was that one was still wearing his school uniform while the other was fully dressed like a proper shinigami. The shop team trailed behind Kisuke as he made his entrance into the scene.

 

„Well, we‘ve finally made our way here and you‘re already all roughed up!“ Kisuke said in a calm voice. He had stepped between what must have been the mod soul in Kurosakis body and the two shinigami. The mod soul Kurosaki had a big wound on his shoulder and looked up to the green clad man in shock from his seated position on the ground. Realizing what was going to happen Jinta and Ururu lowered their weapons in disappointment. Mijime let out a sigh while he watched his boss expel the soul candy from the human body with his zanpakuto.

 

„ That makes all the equipment we brought totally useless.“ Kisuke put their disappointment into words. „Whelp,“ he continued „ That’s that. Let’s go back home guys.“

 

„Wait!“ Kurosaki interrupted before Jinta could complain out loud. „ What are you going to do with him?“ Kisuke turned his head to look at the redhead. „Dispose of it. Why?“ Mijime cringed a bit at the answer. To call a soul a thing felt wrong. Even when it had been made in a laboratory. Ichigo however seemed more surprised about the fact that all the newcomers seemed to have locked on him. „ You can see me...“ He mumbled „ Who are you?“

 

Urahara opened his mouth to answer before Rukia interrupted him. „ He’s a greedy salesman.“ She said drily, taking the small pearl of the mod soul out of Kisukes hand. Mijime choked at the answer, trying to suppress a laugh. The hat wearer sent him a pointed look over the shoulder. The red head seemed more confused than before. „ We’ll be keeping the product.“ the small woman exclaimed. „You guys are working outside the law, so there’s no need for you to recover him.“  The hat on Uraharas head had cast a shadow over his eyes. „... We‘re not responsible then?“ He asked, completely serious all of a sudden. „If trouble comes we‘ll play dumb.“ He said. As if that wouldn’t have been what they would have done anyways. But this conversation seemed to be important to his boss so Mijime held his tongue. He could bully the man enough later.

 

„It’s fine.“ Kuchiki confirmed. „I’m getting used to trouble lately.“ And that had seemed to be everything Kisuke had wanted to hear. He signed for the shop crew to go back home and disappeared of the roof himself. Mijime stayed behind, looking at Ichigo and Rukia. „ See you later then, Kuchiki-san.“ The black-haired man told the small woman. She had turned to face him. „ It’s a shame you weren’t able to get your hands on the chappy model., Fuse-san.“ She told him. „ But thank you for your work. I’ll stay in contact.“

 

——————

 

Mijime had jumped up from the bench he had been sitting on when he felt the hollow appear close to a playground nearby. Finally, something to do. He couldn’t let any kids get hurt after all. Grabbing his umbrella, the cashier ran towards the dark presence of spiritual pressure as fast as he could without using shunpo and stopped as he caught sight of the hollow he had felt. It was sitting upon the hill overshadowing the playground bellow, like a hawk waiting to jump its prey.

 

„ Fuse-san! What are you doing here?“ He was caught by surprise by Rukias yelling. Quickly turning around, he came face to face with the woman and the Kurosaki boy she had given her powers to. „ I was nearby and felt the hollow. So I thought I‘d make sure nobody gets hurt.“ Mijime explained. Rukia nodded in understanding but Ichigo spoke up „ Fuse-san? Who is that, Rukia?“ He asked his friend. Rukia had almost answered but Mijime had held up his hand to intervene. „ I don’t like others speaking for me, sorry. I‘m Mijime Fuse. I work at Urahara shop. We‘ve met before but we weren’t introduced either of those times.“ He explained quickly, his eyes zapping between Ichigo and the hollow every few seconds. „ You work for that weird guy?“ Rukia shot him a look. „ Ugh, I’m Ichigo Kurosaki. I’ll take care of this hollow now.“ And with that the teen ran up to the monster like the suicidal fighter he was.

 

„Uhh,“ Mijime began unsure. „ Will he be fine, Kuchiki-san?“ They were both watching Ichigo jump up to the hollow at a distance. „ Probably.“ She replied. The redhead slashed the hollows side with his massive sword. „ He has done this before.“ She explained. She seemed to be telling that to herself as well as him.

 

„ I won’t die to a pathetic shinigami!“ The hollow roared out as it jumped towards the two adults that had been watching the fight unfold from a distance. Rukia took a stance, trying to cast a kido spell but Mijime stepped forward first. He had lifted his umbrella to block the hand of the hollow that had tried to smack the both of them down. A massive wave of energy vibrated as the two collided, almost sending the young woman to the ground.

 

 

 

 

„ You seem to be severely underestimating your opponent, mister hollow.“ Mijime told the monster with half lidded eyes. The thing let out an enraged growl, trying to attack a second time but was stopped again. This time it hadn’t been Mijime but Ichigo who had stopped the monster. And that not by blocking, but by slicing the hollows head in half. The black-haired man put his umbrella back down as the hollow began to evaporate.

 

„ Good job, Ichigo-kun.“ He congratulated the teen. „ That was nothing.“ Ichigo replied, warily eyeing Mijimes dark blue umbrella. The kid sheathed his sword on his back and turned away from the duo. „ Let’s go back to school Rukia, I don’t want Kon to be there longer than he has to.“ Rukia turned to the shop worker. „ It was nice seeing you again, Fuse-san. Thank you for the help.“ And then ran to follow the redhead herself. Man, Mijime had gotten so close to a little bit of action. And the Kurosaki had taken all the fun away once more. He really hoped that this wasn’t going to become a pattern for them.

 

——————

 

„Don’t look at me like that, Miji-chan. You wanted to train some more, not me.“ Yoruichi chided the young man opposite to herself. They had both gone down into Uraharas training room, to do just that. Train. It had been Mijimes idea. He had been getting restless without anything to do. He had simply gotten sick of sitting around and tapping his feet for hours.

 

But the frustration that had been directed at the lack of things to do had made him forget just how terrible training with Yoruichi could be. He had gotten kicked in the face ten times in the last hour. Normally the black-haired man would describe himself as a calm and collected person but Yoruichi had always had that talent to get on someone’s nerves, no matter how in control of their feelings one was.

 

„I don’t know how I could have forgotten what a sadist you are.“ He groaned into the ground that he was busy kissing with his face at the moment. They were trying to train up his own speed but at this point Yoruichi wasn’t holding back with her own, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to improve. It didn’t matter though. The dark-skinned woman was always faster than him.

 

„ You’ll never be able to properly use your shikai if you don’t get faster kid.“ She scolded. „ It might work against dumb hollows but how long until we have to fight more dangerous creatures than our average hollow?“ Mijime let out a groan. He knew that. That’s why they were here in the first place. He turned around and stood up from the ground. „ Fine. Let’s try again.“ He demanded. „Of course.“ The woman agreed.

 

He took his zanpakuto into his hand and activated his shikai. „ Devour, Yumemiruhito!“ He chanted and the next second he disappeared from his former position. He appeared above Yoruichi next but the woman had expected it and shunpoed out of the way of his slash. His normal katana had changed into a small chopping knife like blade. The short weapon made it impossible to fight from a distance. Using the momentum from his previous attack Mijime sprung forward to where he expected the woman to appear next. To his disappointment however, Yoruichi had been one step ahead of him and appeared behind him immediately. Trying to block the attack he knew was comming, Mijime turned around quickly. Only to get kicked into the face once again.

 

When he opened his eyes again he was staring into the sky of the training area. „ Senpai, you are cruel.“ He complained. Yoruichi only laughed at that. „ You just need to get better, Miji-chan. You almost had me that time. Well done.“ The man blinked a few times, he had not expected a compliment at all. „ Uh, thanks, I guess…“ He replied while standing up once again. „ I think we should call it a day. I think I’m getting dizzy from the abuse my head just took.“ He muttered as he swayed towards the entrance of the training ground. „ See you later then.“ Yoruichi bid him goodbye before he left the room.

 

Then he passed out.

 

 

——————

 

 

Mijime felt like shit when he woke up. His throat was sore and dry, his head felt like someone was kicking it repeatedly and his nonexistent right arm hurt. Unable to just lie in the futon he had woken up in he stood up slowly, his vison blurring as he did so. Leaning against the nearest wall he made his way out of the room and followed Kisukes spiritual pressure into their meeting room.

 

“ Kisuke.” He barely managed to croak out. The man turned to the door in a hurry.  “ Oh dear, what are you doing walking around already?” Kisuke questioned. “No one was there. My head, god it hurts so much.” Mijime slid down the wall to the floor. As he did so he saw someone else in the room sit up and hurry towards him. “ I can help!” The voice promised. The black haired could barely register anything but a blur of orange. Then the woman in front of him exclaimed “ Souten Kishun!” And slowly his pains melted away. He blinked a few times in confusion before looking up to the woman kneeling above him. “Are you feeling better?” She asked with a genuinely worried smile. “ Uh, yes. Thank you that was incredible.” He sat up properly. Now noticing the presence of another person, a tall and buff young man.

 

 

 

 

 

“I seem to have run into something here.” Mijime indirectly questioned. Urahara nodded. “ A little but now that you’re feeling better you’re welcome to stay.” The blonde looked at the other two kids in the room. “ If that’s fine for you two of course.” Kisuke asked the other attendants for approval. The two others nodded and Mijime went to introduce himself.

 

“ I apologize we had to meet that way, but it seems like I had a little accident while training.” He did a quick bow. “ My name is Mijiime Fuse. I work for Kisuke here.” He pointed at Urahara. The girl with the sunshine smile nodded and introduced herself back. “ I’m Orihime Inoue! A pleasure to meet you. I’m glad I could be of help!” Then the big guy introduced himself as well. “ Yasutora Sado.” The black-haired man nodded in acknowledgement. “ They’re friends of Ichigo, it is kind of the reason why they are here.” Kisuke elaborated. “ As you just got to see for yourself, it seems like these two developed powers on their own.” The cashier looked at the two humans again. “ I see.” He nodded.

 

“ There have been a lot of hollows showing up all of a sudden.” Kisuke told Mijime. “ The rest of the shop team and I will be going to help out Ichigo-kun. You should stay back and keep an eye on these two. I would be eternally grateful to you.” Without even giving the younger man a chance to reply Kisuke left the room. The three remaining in the room shared a glance and let out a sight, all at the same time. “ He must be a very interesting person to work for.” Orihime said, the positive attitude still not gone. “ More like a pain in the ass to work for. But sure, call it what you want.” The one-armed man mumbled to himself.

 

——————

 

“ I want you to help Yoruichi train Sado and Inoue.” Kisuke told Mijime. Ichigo Kurusakis heavily wounded body was still lying on a futon in one of their rooms. “ They will go to soul society in an attempt to save Rukia for sure.” The blonde went on. The green hat throwing a shadow over the upper half of his face as usual as he did so. The two men were sitting next to each other, drinking tea. Mijime frowned. “ Will they really execute Kuchiki-san?” He asked worriedly “ She gave Ichigo-kun her powers for a reason. Surely they must understand that?”. A sad smile crossed Uraharas lips. Mijime had been a part of soul society like him. But when they had to flee the boy had only been a student at the academy, oblivious to the political side of everything. There were things about soul society one wasn’t able to understand without experiencing them yourself.

 

“Once they have made such a big decision they won’t back out of it.” Urahara explained as he sipped at his tea cup. “ You could go with them, to save Rukia. I doubt anyone there will remember you or connect you to me.” Mijime smiled bitterly. No one would remember the crippled academy student that had suddenly disappeared for no reason. But maybe it was time to use that to his advantage. “ I might.” He answered for now. “ Let us see what will happen once Ichigo-kun wakes up first.”

 

After Mijime and Kisuke had finished their tea in a comfortable silence, the black-haired man took both empty cups into his hand and strode into the kitchen. Yoruichi was sitting on their table in her cat form, her eyes closed. As quiet as possible the man tried to put both cups in the dishwasher without waking the cat up. “ You do know I’m not sleeping, right?” Yoruichis deep voice made him flinch at the sudden noise. Putting his hand over his rapidly beating heart he spun around to watch the cat.

 

“ I think you really are trying to kill me. First you almost flatten my brain during training and now this.” Mijime looked at her with disgust. The cat jumped up at that. “ I already apologized a thousand times for hitting you too hard during training! Let it go already.” She exclaimed, frustration dripping in her voice. “ Besides, I listened in on your conversation with Kisuke. We gotta get along now. How else will we survive training two teenagers?” “Urghhhhh” The young man groaned. Why did it feel like he had been so unlucky recently? He really must have been a terrible person in his previous life to deserve this. Training two troubled teens hadn’t really been something he had ever wanted to do.

 

That wasn’t the only thing that was occupying his thoughts at the moment though. The offer to return to soul society for a bit himself, had come as a shock for some reason. Mijime had never really expected to ever set foot into the spiritual plane ever again after what had happened. The chance to maybe see his old friends again was too good to be true. What if they did not remember him? None of them had come to look for him. Had they even liked him to begin with? That made the one-armed man shake his head. Of course they had. There was no point in doubting that.

 

He should be focusing more on the fact that Aizen might get his hands on the hogyoku, with Rukia back in the soul society. Or the fact that the small and pleasant woman was going to die if they didn’t train the children well enough. He had to train them. He couldn’t let Rukia die for something that hadn’t been her fault. They might not have been friends but Mijime respected the woman. Too many things had been lost to him. Mijime refused to let Rukia become part of that collection.

“Fine. I’m with you.” The man said, determination in his voice. “We’ll make good fighters out of Sado and Orihime. We have to.” Yoruichi looked him dead in the eyes as she transformed back into her human form. “ Now that’s what I wanted to hear.” She jumped down from the table. Mijime ignored her state of dress as he walked towards the kitchen door, the woman following him. “ You should go search for the two while I prepare some things. I will catch up with you later.” The black woman shared her plan. Mijime nodded, picked up his umbrella by the front door and left to search for the two teenagers. They couldn’t be that hard to find.


	4. Orihime Inoue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mijime decides to train Orihime while Yoruichi and Kisuke take care of Chad and Ichigo. Isshin comes by to have a one on one with his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Isshin is my new guilty pleasure. He's just such a fun character. I'm going to change up Orihime quite a bit cause I always thought she was so cute and had so much potential but always ends up being not utilized enough. Mijime always ends up getting close to people more positive than him. It's like opposites attract or something lmao. ALSO finally hit 10,000 words pogchamp

„ I‘ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Orihime-chan, your powers are amazing.“ Mijime told the girl after she had blocked another one of his kido spells. They had been training for a while now. Yoruichi had taken Sado under her wing and he had snatched the orange haired girl for himself. The girls powers were unlike anything he had ever seen before. They allowed her to block even strong attacks and in case someone still got hurt she even had the ability to heal them back up. The girl gave Mijime a grateful smile at the praise and loosened her stance.

 

„ I think I got a grasp on how much damage your shield can take on now. Next we will test how fast you will be able to activate it.“ He explained her his plan. She gave him a determined nod before Mijime picked up his umbrella from the floor. As he readied it like a sword, the appearance of the rain protection disappeared and it took on the form of a normally sized katana. Orihimes eyes widened briefly before she went back to intensely watching the blade. Starting out slow the man ran towards her, openly attacking her. She blocked the blow with her glowing shield and the man went for another swift strike from a different angle. They continued on like this, Mijime slowly increasing his speed until the girl couldn’t keep up anymore.

 

He was worried. He hadn’t even been able to activate his shikai before she had been too slow. Orihime was breathing rapidly now. The shielding had taken a big toll on her. He looked at her, his brows furrowed in worry. „Are you well enough to continue?“ He asked her, just to be sure. Inoue still hadn’t looked at him, her stare directed at the ground as she leaned on her knees. „ I’m- not- not so sure.“ She replied eventually. Mijime nodded. „ That is fine. There’s plenty we can work on without physical exercise.“ He walked towards her, offering her his hand as a help to get up. „ Do you have a favorite cafe? We can talk there.“

 

The walk to their destination had been filled with small talk. They were talking about their favorite ice cream flavors, how it was like to work for Urahara and how Inoue hat met Ichigo. It was cute, Mijime concluded, how her whole demeanor seemed to light up when she talked about the boy. But it felt like Orihime liked to think and talk about others more than herself. She was just a teenager, so he should have expected a little self doubt. It still made him a little sad how Orihime had immediately assumed to just be a more passive, reactionary fighter as if it was default. If it really ended up that way, it would be a waste of her talents.

 

The cafe Orihime had chosen was small but comfortable. Most of the furniture was a warm reddish brown and their drinks were good. „ Do you know if you really can only use your powers to shield, heal and do that small attack?“ He asked her as he ate one of the cut pieces of fruit they had ordered. She was lost in thought for some time before she answered unsure. „ I’m not sure. It’s the only things they showed me how to do.“ She took a sip from her milkshake. „ I feel like your shield is too big to materialize fast enough in a one on one fight.“ He explained his worries. Her eyes blinked cluelessly at that. „ I think there’s a decision to make here, since we do not have enough time to train both.“ He began, looking at her intensely as he leaned forwards in his chair. „ You either stay a support fighter and get a better grasp on the powers you already know how to use.“ Orihime swallowed at that. „ Or we experiment a bit and try to find out if there is a possibility to use your powers offensively.“

 

„ You think that would be possible?“ She asked shocked. Mijime gave a nod. „ We might find a way yes. It will be troublesome if we don’t though. We will have wasted a lot of time until we will come to that realization.“ Orihime thought about what the man had told her. Her wish had been to be able to support Ichigo through whatever he was going through. She had never even thought about being the one able to protect Ichigos back during a fight, and not from the sidelines. It was a tempting offer. Maybe a chance she would never get again. To learn to fight by Ichigos side. As an equal.

 

„ Let’s try it!“ She declared to Mijime. The man smiled at her newfound determination. „ Nice. Let’s think about how we could utilize your powers in a different way then.“

 

————

 

They had set up a good training routine after that. Every two days they would do physical exercises and during their days in between he would teach her about shinigami and their powers. It would have been irresponsible to send the teens into the afterlife without them even knowing what a shikai or bankai was.

 

At first they had experimented with the size of her shields during their physical training sessions. Inoue had trained hard and had been able to manipulate its size after a week. They had discovered that the Shun Shun Rikka were very similar to a zanpakuto spirit. Through talking with them they had been to truly understand what Orihimes ability really was.

 

To reject. The power to reject things from happening. Just the thought of that left Mijime baffled. She had the power to reject bodies from holding together. She had the power to reject injuries after they had happened. The potential was endless. It was a scary power and Mijime wanted to thank whoever decided that Orihime should wield it. He couldn’t think of a person more worthy and fit to handle such an ability. On the other hand the black-haired man had also found out that the girl was very proficient with some material arts. It was nice to know that his stomach feeling hadn’t been wrong with thinking that she had potential.

 

„ You’re doing well Orihime-chan.“ He praised her after their daily training session. They were strolling towards the shop together, ready to take a break for once. „ Thank you, sensei!“ She thanked him brightly. They were both covered in dirt from their training fights in one of the surrounding forests. „ I have to be.“ She continued on. „ I want to be able to protect everyone.“ That she was thinking about Kurosaki was left unsaid but they both knew it.

 

 

 

———

 

„ It’s time. Ichigo has completed his training and not much time is left until the execution.“ Urahara said to Mijime weeks later. They had met up at the front part of their shop to exchange news about each of their wards process. Yoruichi was resting on Kisukes shoulder and nodded in agreement. „ Chad seems ready enough I suppose.“ They looked at the young man, waiting for him to elaborate on Orihimes process as well. „ Orihime-chan has been surprising over and over again. I’d say they can succeed at this together.“ He also agreed with his two friends.

 

„ Have you set up the doorway yet?“ He asked Kisuke. The hat wearer nodded. „ Yes, I’ve prepared everything. Let’s give them one more day to relax before we summon them here. They will need the break.“ None oft hem disagreed with that. The kids had been training for weeks now. „ Another thing.“ Kisuke adressed Mijime. „Did you decide whether you want to join them or  not?.” “ Ah.” The black-haired man had made that decision the moment he had seen just how determined Orihime had been. “ Of course I will. I have some unfinished business there that I should have dealt with a lot earlier.” He had some old friends to visit, no matter if those friends didn’t know it yet. The answer had put a smile on Kisukes and Yoruichis faces.

 

“Good. Glad to know you won’t be leaving me alone with those kids.” Yoruichi said with approval. She jumped from Kisukes shoulder and transformed back to her original form at the same time. The naked woman walked back into their house, ignoring the look Kisuke was giving her. It had been late already so Mijime could relax, knowing that neither Ururu or Jinta were awake at this hour. Neither could run into the naked woman they hadn’t seen before. “ What are you up to now, senpai?” He asked her, hoping she could still hear his question. “ Not sure, might want to watch a movie, it has been a while.” She sounded thoughtful. “ Maybe you should put on some clothes first.” Kisuke called after her. “ Pft, for who? It’s a pleasure show for you, Miji-chan doesn’t give a shit and I am quite fine like this.” The cat woman replied with a smirk.

 

The rest of the evening was spent drinking and gossiping while playing cards. Mijime lost all the games. He had forgotten that it was a bad idea to play against two notorious cheaters.

 

\-----

 

It had been the last day before their departure when Isshin had sat down next to Mijime on his usual park bench. The younger man looked up from his newspaper to the newcomer as he fell into the seat next to him. He had set the paper to the side when he noticed the troubled expression on the single father’s face. Worry was visible in every line of his few wrinkles. “ Miji.” Isshin greeted him as he stared at the lived-in park in front of them. A few families had come there to spend some time with their children, lovers were having picnics and kids were playing football by themselves. “ I have no clue what Ichigo is up to, but please make sure he comes out of whatever he is doing alive.” Mijime stared at the man. Isshin might be an idiot sometimes but he was also just a single dad looking out for his kids. “ I’ll be going with them, don’t worry. I’ll prevent him from getting killed.” He promised after a short pause. With a turn of his head the father smiled gratefully at Mijime. “ My powers have been recovering, but until they fully return I’ll leave Ichigo in your hands.” The ex-Shinigami explained. It would have been a lie, if Mijime had said he wasn’t surprised with how much confidence Isshin had placed his son under his care. A show of trust and respect that he really hadn’t expected.

“He’s your son. If I let him die I’ll never hear the end of it.” Mijime returned drily. A loud laugh came from the addressed man at that. “ You know me so well! Say, are you busy this evening? Let’s go out for some drinks.” The dad suggested happily. A small smile found its way on Mijimes face as he agreed with the other. “ A good idea, it has been a while since we last did that.” Then a football came out of nowhere and his Isshin square into his face. Mijime just stood by and watched as his friend fell off the bench with a loud groan. A small black-haired girl ran towards them at an almost inhuman speed. Even when she had been far away, one was able to see the anger radiating off her. Her anger released as she kicked Isshin and screamed at him at the top of her lungs. “  What do you think you’re doing here!? Quit following me everywhere I go, dad!” She kicked him a few more times when her father had fallen onto the ground. That must be one of his daughters then, huh.

 

Said father was crying theatrically, whimpering something about standing the pain to protect his and Masakis children. At this point Mjime felt more than a little uncomfortable. He roughly grabbed his newspaper and tried to slowly back away from his place on the bench. It seemed like he had succeeded for a few seconds before the small devil in human form turned around and set her angered eyes on him. Mijime froze in his tracks. “ And who are you?! His partner in crime?” She inquired, the fury still present. The one-armed man held up his hand in defense and rapidly shook his head. “ I’m a victim too.” He begun. “ I was minding my own business before your dad came to disrupt my peaceful day. I swear.” ‘Good luck Isshin’ Mijime thought. He was not going to deal with this. The pleading look Isshin sent him, left him cold as he ran away from the child. The Kurosaki family was full of monsters.

 

 

 

 

 

\---

 

They had still met up that evening like they had planned. The bar they had chosen to visit was clean but casual. Mijime had changed out of his haori and hakama combination and put on simple pants and a hoodie instead. The outfit would have only drawn unwanted attention. Unsurprisingly, Isshin was wearing one of his horribly colored button up shirts as usual. There was a fair amount of people present, as there was supposed to be a small indoors concert today. The band hadn’t started yet but it was loud anyways.

 

“ Ahhh my sweet beer how I have missed youuu!” Isshin sang as they received their drinks. He even gave the glass a kiss. A typical Isshin move. They were sitting at a small two-person table in a corner of the establishment, that would have given them a good view of the place, hadn’t there been as many people present. Mijime and his friend had ordered the same drink. “ Let’s toast!” Isshin exclaimed excitedly. Mijime grinned and raised his tall beer glass into the air. “ To the success of your trip tomorrow!” The single father proclaimed and made their glasses touch with a noise. “ To a successful trip.” Mijime agreed with a smile. Then they both started to drink their beverages.

 

“ How do you feel about going back to soul society?” Isshin asked Mijime after a while. Surprised by the sudden and serious question, the younger man choked on his drink. “ I- What do you mean?” The other man gave him a look. “ You know what I mean. I worry about you too, you know? You are one of my best friends.” It was a flattering thing to say. Mijime felt the same way about Isshin after all. “ I don’t really know.” He answered hesitantly. “ Who knows if I’ll ever be ready. But I’d just feel bad about letting a few kids go there on their own.” He elaborated. “ I think I just need closure.” He added, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. Isshins gaze softened at that. “ That’s understandable. I don’t know if I should ever return. I left without telling anyone after all. Rangiku would probably just beat me into a pulp for leaving her alone.” He trembled, a shudder visibly going through his whole body at the thought. Mijime snorted at that. That sounded like Rangiku, alright. “ Well, no matter. Even if I miss everyone from time to time, I wouldn’t trade my cute kids for anything in the world. They’re worth it then times over!” Concluded the single dad out loud, like the loving ( But still very weird,) father he was. Mijime thought of everyone at the shop and was inclined to agree.


	5. To Enter Soul Society

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone meets up at Uraharas to start their otherworldly trip. Things are revealed about Mijime.

“ This, is what we call a “Senkaimon”. A doorway that will lead you straight to soul society.” Urahara explained to everyone who had assembled at his training ground that evening. Chad, Ichigo, Orihime and their quincy friend Uryuu had all come to fight for Rukia. Tessai seemed to be in high spirits as he hugged Mijime farewell while their mutual friend was busy explaining the unexperienced teens about their upcoming travel. “ Take care you two.” The kido master asked of Yoruichi and Mijime. “ You are trying to stop an execution from happening, so try not to get killed on your way there, yes?” Mijime returned the too tight hug softly and muttered a quiet but clear “Of course.” into the tall mans shoulder. Yoruichi nodded in agreement “ Don’t worry, we’ll return in one piece.” She promised before she made her way towards the other group. Mijime watched her along the way and when she had reached the others he gave Tessai a warm look and one last pat on the back before he went to follow after the cat.

 

Kisuke looked at them as they joined the small group of four. “ Is everything ready?” The one-armed man asked the green clad man. “ I would think so.” Urahara stated. One look at the determined teens was all the proof Mijime needed to agree. Ichigos warm and firm eyes had locked with his for a moment. It was impossible to not see his relation with Isshin. They both held that same kind of determination when they were set on doing something they believed in. “ You coming with us, Fuse?” The young Kurosaki inquired confused. “ I am.” He replied plainly, not sure he would be able to put his reasoning for his action into words. “ And so am I.” Reported Yoruichi, joining the conversation. “ You will not be alone in this.” Mijime tried to reassure the group, who seemed to be a bit relieved at the revelation. “ I’m Mijime Fuse.” The black haired man added quickly, addressing the dark haired boy in a white uniform. He could not remember ever having met him before. The boy eyed him skeptically before he quickly dropped his name as a halfheartedly introduction. “ Uryuu Ishida.”

 

“ Well then!” Kisuke went on excitedly. “ Only one thing left.” The blonde raised his walking stick and hit Mijime. The black-haired man could feel his soul leave his gigai with a swift jump. The now empty body fell with a loud “thump” to the floor. The teens, that had started to watch his interaction with Urahara stepped back. Orihime was the first to speak up. “ You’re a Shinigami too, sensei? That’s amazing!” She realized with joy. Now Mijime was the one who stumbled back, shocked. “ What do you mean. Didn’t you realize that at all during the weeks we trained!?” He yelled shocked. The girl scratched the back of her head shyly with a laugh. “ I guess I really didn’t! Hahaha.” She replied unnecessarily. Mijime felt himself let out a sight at the girls cluelessness and looked down at himself quickly. It had been long since he had last been moving around without his gigai. What should have felt natural, felt foreign and unpleasant. In an act of discomfort, he buried his chin into the fabric of the dark blue scarf he was now wearing. It smelled of perfume that wasn’t his own and made his heart hiccup. There was a weight in his chest that suddenly felt like it had become heavier than it had ever been.

 

 

 

Yoruichi stood in front of the gate and turned back to look towards the “Rukia Rescue Team”. She eyed them carefully, her golden eyes scanning every one of them thoroughly. “ Now that we’re set,” She addressed them. “ Those who carry the determination to cross over to soul society, may follow me.” Ichigo walked closer to her, looking down at the cat as he protested. “ What do you mean “ Those who have the determination”? We all came here for a reason. We won’t turn back now.” He declared, the same strong gaze in his eyes as before. “ You know, that once you fail you will never return?” Yoruichi probed still.  “ Of course.” Ichigo agreed. “ We will win.” He declared. To someone who might not have known the cat it would have been invisible, but Mijime could see the yellow eyes light up with approval at the kids answer. He gave one last glance towards Kisuke who returned the gesture with a worried smile and nod and walked towards the doorway. The substitute shinigami muttered something to the mod soul he had stuffed into a plush lion, that was currently lying on the floor and did the same as the one-armed man. No one was quite sure who was yelling the determined “ Let’s go!” as the six all entered the glowing gate together.

 

\-----

 

The dimension between the human world and Soul Society, the Dangai, was dark and, in Mijimes opinion, quite disgusting. The walls were oozing with some kind of slime that made him uncomfortable just looking at. The six of them were all running down the seemingly never-ending hallway together. The walls behind them had already started to collapse, prompting them to hasten their pace. The man stared straight ahead, as it had been instructed earlier when he heard Uryuu curse out. “ How is it collapsing so fast?! It’s almost caught up completely already!” “ Does it really matter?” Mijime replied quickly. “ The only thing that matters is that we need to spend more time running and less time talking!” He ordered. “ Agreed,” The cat remarked “You should use that energy to run instead. If we get caught, it’s all over.”

 

Mijime had still not looked back but when he heard Orihime mutter out a quick chant to activate her powers he turned his head. “ Look out, Ishida-kun!” He heard her shout as she shot a small shield to stop a piece of the goo from grabbing onto the boys cape. Said boy looked at her shocked before increasing his pace dramatically. “ What are you doing!?” Yoruichi yelled frustrated. “ You’re lucky it didn’t touch your pins, girl!” Orihime looked shocked at the cat. “ It traps souls. If you touch the thing with your weapon you will be stuck here forever!” The feline explained afterwards. Ichigo looked at the cat wideyed and swallowed his shock.

 

 

 

 

 

“ Look.” Mijime disrupted them. “ I think we’re almost there. I can see a light.” He pointed ahead to the bright point ahead of them. “ That’s good.” Chad answered to the surprise of everyone. “ Because I see something else coming after us and I don’t think it’s friendly.” He stated dryly. “ Shit!” the two adults cursed out at the same time. “ That’s the janitor.” The cat yelled. “ But I thought it was only supposed to come through here once a week!” Mijime Added frustrated. “ It does.” The woman agreed. “ We’re just fucking unlucky! Hurry up!” They all nodded quickly, and continued to run in silence. Just seconds before the giant slug like janitor had caught up to them, they managed to jump into the brightly lit doorway, barely escaping the monster. “We did it!” Ichigo yelled relieved as soon as they felt the warmth of sunlight hitting their skin. The fresh air felt like a blessing after running through the damp tunnel. “ Not quite.” Mijime observed. Ichigo blinked and noticed what Mijime meant when he felt the lack of ground under his feet. The eyes of the other teens widened as well when the all noticed that the gate had been many meters above the ground. A loud scream tore through them as they closed the distance to the ground at a rapid speed. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

\----

 

“ Orihime. Your powers are fantastic.” Mijime told the red headed girl. She had saved them all this time. Her powers had taken the impact of the fall, ensuring their safe arrival on the ground. “ Hahah, no problem! We look out for each other, yeah?” She answered with a bright smile, her eyes darting to Ichigo as she did so. The substitute Shinigami looked shocked at his female classmate, probably not having expected to get his life saved by the joyful girl. “ Indeed.” Uryuu agreed. “ You have saved me twice now, I thank you for that.” “ Hehehe, it’s fine, that’s what friends are for!” She returned. Mijime smiled. The girl was proud. He could see it in her posture. Chad gave this girl a thankful nod. “ So this is Soul Society?” Ichigo asked as he looked around them. “ Yes, this is the Rukongai. This is where souls are sent to after dying.” Mijime explained. “Where we need to go is the Seireitei.” Yoroichi added. “ The Rukongai is the land surrounding the Seireitei.” Uryuu looked around confused. “ This is where souls are sent to? Where is everyone then?”

 

“ Hmm, so this is where the shinigamis live?” Ichigo asked quickly. “ Let’s go then!” He exclaimed as he ran towards the clean and empty buildings. “ No! Wait!” Yoroichi shouted after him with distress. “You’ll die!” At that the teenager stopped running and quickly turned around, just in time to doge away from the massive wall that had fallen out of the sky. “ Uowahhh!” He let out a scream. Mijime braced himself from the strong shock waves that blew over the landscape as the Seireitei was quickly surrounded by tall walls falling out of the sky. It had been so long ago that he’d seen the Seireitei from this side of the wall, he realized as he stared at the white impenetrable walls. They had seemed even bigger back then, they had towered over his frail and, for his age, too small body. He had never imaged that he would have to return like this one day. But here he was. There was no going back now.

 

“It has been a long time since someone tried to trespass like you lot.” A loud voice boomed from the gigantic dust cloud ahead of them. Mijime lowered his arm and fixed the silhouette ahead of them with a calculating gaze. A gatekeeper, he realized then as the dust settled to reveal the massive form of a giant of a man. “ I’ll make sure to treat you well!” The giant assured Ichigo. “ Who is that?” Chad asked the two adults. Yoruichi and Mijime exchanged a glance. The cat sighed and explained. “ This is Jidanbou. One of the four gatekeepers of Seireitei.” The youg quincy swallowed at that. “ A guardian? We must defeat him to enter then, I see.” The cat shook her head. “ No it won’t be easy like that. We need another plan.” Mijime looked at her confused. Sure the guy was big but they should still be able to take the man on. Yoruichi and him were fast after all. She ignored his confused gaze and tried to reach Ichigo with a shout. “ Come back, you idiot! Let’s group up and make a plan first!” She demanded. As she did so Chad and Orihime stormed past them towards their friend who still stood in front of the giant. “ Did you even listen!?” She let out frustrated. Mijime just stood by and watched, his lips twitching. “ Let them try it. Do you have so little faith in them?” He questioned his friend. “ That’s not it!” She shrieked as she scratched his face with a jump and swift strike of her paw in anger. He quickly went to cover the wound with his hand and almost fell over when another shockwave hit them. The giant had hit the ground and with that build up a wall, effectively cutting them off from supporting their Shinigami friend. Now all they could do was wait and hope that Ichigo would win.

 

It turned out, that Mjime had been right with placing his trust in Ichigo as the kid had beaten the giant without even breaking a sweat. The man hadn’t really payed any attention to the fight as he should have, too lost in thought had he been. They were so close to entering Seireitei now that  Jindanbou had offered to let them enter. Ichigo seemed extasic at the offer. “ You would really do that!?” He asked with the brightest smile Mijime had ever seen on the kids face. Yoruichi had jumped onto the mans arm during the fight and made herself comfortable there. “ Are you sure you can actually do that?” Mijime asked skeptically. The giant nodded “ Your boss defeated me, I won’t be able to stand in your way any longer now.” Mijime looked at the giant blankly. His boss. Ichigo. Never. Their archer seemed to think the same and made his discomfort with the statement very visible. “ Our boss?! This guy!?”  The teen screamed in protest. He hastily pointed between himself and Ichigo. Their so called boss just crossed his arms. “ Is it really that important now?” He returned.

 

“ You name is?” The giant requested from the substitute shinigami. “ Ichigo Kurosaki” The kid answered. “ What a cute name.” The giant replied instantly. Mijime choked holding back a aloud laugh at that. “ Yeah, it’s a really cute name. I agree.” The one armed man added. Ichigo turned around to face him at that. “ Shut up! I don’t wanna hear that from someone with such a miserable name like you!” The teen yelled agitated.  “ The Ichi means “one” and the go stands for “Protector”! Because that’s what I am.” The redhead explained to Mijime and Jidanbou heatedly. “ Sure.” The one armed man agreed with doubt. “ I see.” Jidanbou started. “ Take care of yourself and your friends then. I don’t know what your reason is for entering Seireitei but everyone beyond these gates is insanely powerful!” He ended seriously.

 

It was then when Mijime felt it. That spiritual pressure. It was suppressed, but not completely silenced. Someone with that skill had to be powerful. But that hadn’t been why he froze where he stood. He could remember that Reiatsu. How could he forget it. Yoroichi looked up at her friend as she noticed him tense up. “ Mijime?” She adressed him quietly. “ It’s- That presence-“ He stammered out. There was a loud creaking noise when the giant pushed the gate open for their group. The black-haired man stared beyond the gate. Then he let Yoruichi fall and shunpoed ahead through the tall doorway, barely standing inside the Seireitei. “ Mijime!” The cat screamed after him with worry.  The giant froze in place at the same time. Ichigo looked around with confusion. “What’s going on? Why aren’t we going in?” And followed after the two other Shinigami.

“ A- Ahhhh-AHH!” The giant let out a scream in shock. Ichigo followed his gaze, stopping to look at the form of Mijime, who had frozen up as well. “ Ah Ah. What do we have here?” A man stood in front of them. The hair on his head was a cold grey that fit with the cold, closed eyed smile on his face. The man was wearing a standard issue Shinigami hakama with a short sleeved, white haori on top. They all hung loosely on his weirdly thin frame. “ That’s- That’s Captain Ichimaru, of the third squad!” The giant exclaimed panicked. Mijime nodded.

 

“ This is forbidden, you know?” The man swiftly grabbed his short sword. “ You should know better. A gatekeepers job, is to keep the gate closed.” Then, faster than any of the teens could react, his sword shot out aiming at one of Jidanbous arms. Lucky for them, Mijime was just as fast at readying his own sword. He shot up from his position. A loud and hard noised echoed around him as he blocked the strike aimed at the giant with his Zanpakuto. “ I didn’t think you’d care about breaking the rules like that.” Mjime addressed the captain who squinted at the black-haired man.

 

“ Gin.” The captains grin widened.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if any of that came as a surprise lul. Any guesses how Gin and Mijime know eachother? Let me knowww.


	6. Running Backwards ( part one )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gin Ichimaru and Mijime Fuse, two people that live drove apart. The worlds doesn't only revolve around Mijime though, as things get more complicated for everyone involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest chapter yet lmao. I hope you enjoyed it. I can't wait to write more about all the other shinigamis. I played around a bit with the formatting, let me know if it's easier to read this way or if you liked it more the way it was formatted before!

 

 

“ Look what we have here, I don’t think this is where you should be, Mijime.“ Gin told the scarf wearing shinigami with his omnipresent smile. The long sword returned to its short state just as quick as it had outgrown it, and settled back securely into its users hand. All eyes were on Ichimaru and Mijime.

“You know this guy?“ Ichigo asked Mijime carefully, his sceptical eyes setting onto him. Said soul reaper was still holding eyecontact with the snake like man, waiting for his next move, when he replied. “ I used to. Not sure I still do.“ The bitterness in his voice was hard to overhear.

“ As nice as it is, to see you again buddy,“ Gin told Mijime who was tensing up, his eyes hardening to a glare, “ I still can’t let you pass.“ Then, even faster than before, the swords length grew again, this time aiming for the one armed adult. As before said man blocked the blow, only to be pushed backwards into the wall with high force. Mijime felt like throwing up and let out a choaked groan when the flat side of his own blade was pushed back into his stomach. He was meters into the air, pressed against the wall, when the sword retreated once again, this time to attack Ichigo. The redhead had decided to launch his own attack and had begun to run towards the captain with his sword in hand.

 

“ How rude,“ Gin chided, waving a finger, “ Can’t you see we were talking?“ The sword lunged at Ichigo and pushed him back out of the gate with it’s massive momentum. As soon as Ichigo had been pushed out, Mijime fell back onto the ground. With another swift strike their opponent cut off one of the giants arms, making Jidanbou cry out in pain. The inhumanly tall man fell backwards, letting the gate fall. Mijime heard Yoruichi and the others cry out for him as the gate closed, shutting him in with one of the gotei 13 captains. Gin walked towards him and Mijime could only curse at his own stupidity. Shit.

 

——-

 

The group outside the gate stood in silence. Shocked they stared at the gate for a few seconds before the cat let out a curse.

“ Goddamn it, Mijime! You idiot!“ Orihime run towards the hurt giant in a rush to help heal his wound. “ Are you okay, Ichigo?“ Chad asked their leader with worry as the substitute shinigami got up from his place on the floor.

“ Yeah, I’m fine.“ Ichigo replied, his eyebrows more furrowed than ever.

“ Will Fuse-san be fine? Yoruichi-san?“ The Ishida inquired, still recovering from the shock of the completely overpowered attack. Yoruichis gaze still hadn’t left the door.

“ He has to be. Otherwise we now have two people to save.“ She answered after a bit, making everyone look at her in worry. She noticed and shook her head.

“ Don’t worry. Mijime is a lot stronger than all of you. He‘s resourceful, we have to put our trust in that.“ She added, reassuring the teens. She didn’t know what had hit the man, that he had so foolishly decided to charge in by himself. She knew that the two men had a past and she really hadn’t expected to run into one of the captains so early on. Yoruichi couldn’t have known, that Mijime would act so emotionally but she still felt responsible.

 

——

 

Mijime was still sitting against the wall. He hadn’t gotten up, staring up to the captain of the third division towering over his frame. Gin was coming closer and closer, only stopping when he reached the space in front of the black-haired man.

“ So rude. I thought you’d be happy to see me again.“ Gin complained with a pout. „ Get lost, you‘re in my bubble, asshole.“ Mijime wasn’t in the mood to deal with Gin and did his best to make the other man take notice of that fact.

“ Look at you, so depressing to look at.“ Gins squinted eyes opened up. Mijime felt his breath hitch at the sight of the ice blue orbs. It had been so long. He could only stare. “ You used to be so alive. I wonder who is responsible for you death?“ The captain scolded the one-armed man. Gin crouched down. Both shinigami were on the same level now. Mijime let go of his sword, letting it fall to the ground carelessly. His hand shot up to Gins collar, pulling the silver haired man closer. They could feel each others breath on their face. The black-haired mans ragged and warm breath blew life onto Gins cold visage, bringing a weird sort of comfort to the silver-haired man.

 

Mijimes cold black eyes were unforgiving. “ Don’t ask questions you know the answer to.“ He pressed out in anger. With a jerk of his head he hit his own forehead ad against Gins, sending the other man stumbling backwards. He stood up and grimaced as soon as he felt a droplet of blood running down his face. During his move, he had picked up Yumemiruhito at the fabric that was braided around its sheath, and put it back to his hip. He drew his blade out of the sheath cleanly and took a fighting stance. Gin had recollected himself as well and mirrored Mijimes posture.

 

 

“ You really think you can beat a captain, Miji?“ Gin taunted.

“ You became one, so I doubt they’re as skilled as they claim to be. I’ll test my luck.“ The other declared. Mijime knew he stood no chance under their circumstances. He was surrounded by hundreds of soul reapers who would all be arriving at the scene soon. Gin undoubtedly knew this as well. Mijime was fighting a loosing battle.

“ So sure of yourself. Well, you wanted this. So I won’t hold back. Shoot, Shinso!“ The third division captain exclaimed. Mijime deflected the sword. With a swift shunpo he appeared behind Gin, quickly slashing at the silver-haired man with his blade. He knew he would be losing this fight. No need to show off even his shikai. Gin turned around parrying the blow by striking his sword forward. The moment the sword touched his opponent’s chest, Mijimes figure disappeared. Trying to strike Gin from the side, he aimed a strong kick at the mans hip. The hit connected and threw the man a few meters to the side.

 

“ Over here! Someone’s fighting!“ A loud yell echoed around them. Mijime looked around sharply. Shit, backup was coming. Was this how he would die? After everything he had survived he would die like this? It had been a mistake to get so lost in thought however. Before Mijime had time to process what had happened, something hard hit the back of his neck, turning his vision blank. The shinigami didn’t even feel himself hit the ground.

 

No one noticed how Gin picked up the body and disappeared.

 

 

**I**

 

 

The cold air felt like it was biting at his fingers and toes. The child didn’t bother to get up from the grass. There was no need. He was alone. He was safe. The strange man was gone. Mijime turned his head to the side. Ah. Just as expected. His arm. Gone as well. Tears collected at the corners of the childs eyes. What was he supposed to do now? He had already been in a bad situation, but this. This was bad on a whole other level. His hand touched his way across his bony chest. There was no blood. The was no smooth skin. Just a broad scar across his stomach to the side of his chest. The dirty, dark yukata was falling apart, the blow had ripped most of its fabric.

 

Many bad things had happened but Mijime was still alive wasn’t he? Tears left his eyes uncontrollably and soft cries of pain came out of his mouth as he sat up. He kept his gaze straight ahead, trying not to look at where his second arm once had been. Unsteady he got up and walked back towards the abandoned hut. Food. He needed food. He was hungry.  Mijime settled down in one of the dry corners of the hut, properly tying what was left of his yukata together and burying himself in the pelts he had accumulated over the years. The tears still hadn’t stopped. The crying grew more and more choked and desperate the longer he stayed in his corner. The night sky he had woken up to was slowly disappearing, making space for the sun to rise. Mijime was still whimpering.

 

A shadow fell over Mijime, but he didn’t have it in him to look up at who had come close.

“ I thought you were an animal. Guess I was wrong.“ A soft voice adressed the small bundle.

“ Hey, are you alright?“ There was genuine concern in the voice. Mijime noticed and tiredly looked up. His blurry dark eyes met with the warmest blue eyes he had ever seen. Strawberry blonde, messy hair framed a friendly but dirty face. A girl.

“ What are you doing here? Go away, this is my home.“ Mijime told her off without putting any energy into his complaint. The girls brows furrowed. She looked at him for a bit.

“ I don’t think you‘d want that.“ She said unsure after a while. She lowered herself to sit next to him. “ Hey,“ She began, “ Can I stay here for a bit? It’s cold outside. I’ll even tell you my name. But only if you tell me yours!“ Mijime looked at her blankly, his vision still blurry and his eyes still burning in pain.

“ Do what you want. I don’t care.“ He decided finally. The girl smiled softly at that, her small hands gripping her cheap yukata.

“ Thanks. I’m Rangiku. What’s your name?“ She finally dared to ask. Her head was lying on her knubby knees, turned towards him. The boys hand clenched into a fist. His name was a painful reminder of how he felt.

“ Mijime.“ He told her quickly. The girls gaze became pitiful at that.

“ Ah. What an unlucky name.“ She replied with sad eyes. Mijime had imitated her position, looking back into her endless eyes.

“ I know.“

 

 

Only when Mijime had woken up to the bright sun of the day shining in through the broken roof, did he realize that he and the girl had fallen asleep next to each other. His cheeks blushed in a light pink as he tried to untangle himself from Rangiku under the furs without waking her up. How careless had he been, to give in to the slightest show of kindness that was given to him? He felt like hitting himself. That had been pathetic. His head thumped in a dull pain to the fast rhythm of his heartbeat. A sharp pain hit him when he heard a noise from the front of the broken hut. Someone else? He made his way carefully into the direction of the sound.

 

“ You don’t need to hide, I know you’re here.“ A voice prompted him to reveal himself. Mijimes eyebrows shot up in surprise and he shook out of fear as he stepped out of the cover of the wooden wall.

“ I’m Rangikus friend. I was there too when you two talked. “ The voice, he could now recognize that it belonged to a boy, explained. The boy had shiny silver hair that reflected the warm sunlight like Mijime had never seen any hair do before. The boys eyes were squinted and his expression neutral. Mijime didn‘t miss that the boy was just as thin as he was, when he looked over the boys dark blue yukata.

“ What are you doing? “ The one armed boy asked the other child. The fox like child smiled a close-lipped smile at him.

“ My name is Gin.“ The boy introduced himself. “ I got us some food. You’re hungry too, aren’t you? I can feel your spiritual pressure. You’re just like Rangiku and me.“

 

Stunned the black-haired kid looked at the boy. It felt like he should disagree. They weren’t anything like him. They’d never understand what he had gone through the last day. Someone like that wouldn’t understand. His heart felt heavy. This was the first time in years he had met someone his age that had been close to being nice. They seemed so willing to take him in. If he walked away now, would he ever get a chance like this ever again?

“ I- No I- I am.“ He stuttered out, unsure what to do. He was still shaking and Gin seemed to notice.

“ Naw, cmhere. I ain’t gonna hurt you.“ He patted the wood next to where he was sitting. Dried bloodstains had painted the light brown wood dark and red. Mijime slowly made his way over and sat down awkwardly. Gin pushed a dried fruit into the other boys hand, signing for him to eat it. The black-haired child looked towards the doorway of the house. Gin seemed to understand the unsaid question.

“ Rangiku will get up soon. Don’t worry it’s normal for her.“ Mijime still didn’t seem quite convinced but the hunger overruled his rationality and he began to nibble on his food in silence.

 

——

 

“ Rangiku, when did you and Gin meet? You seem so close, so I wondered.“ Mijime asked the girl after they had been living together for a week. They had both climbed up a tall tree close to their house. It had been hard for the one-armed boy but he had refused to give up, even when it had taken him hours to accomplish what  had only taken minutes for his female friend. She had been there to cheer him on the whole time. Rangiku gave him a questioning gaze before she replied.

“ We met a few days before we found you.“ She told him a bit dumbfounded. Mijime looked back at her with shock. They had seemed so close! Like they‘d known each other for years at least! He couldn’t believe it. Rangiku noticed his shock and laughed joyfully.

“ You and Gin seem just as close! Like brothers! Hihi“ She giggled out. Mijime looked at her with doubt. She just shook her head at that.

 

“ What are you two doing up there, without me nonetheless.“ Gin exclaimed from the grassy ground underneath the tree. He looked up to them a small smile on his lips.

“ You’re gonna laugh too much and fall of. I can see it already.“ He added with a smirk. Mijime and Rangiku looked at each other. Then they both looked at their friend, the same smile on both of their faces.

“ That’s why you’re on the ground, isn’t it? You know you‘d fall of instantly!“ Rangiku gloated at him. Gin just pouted at that.

“ Careful now, I’m on food duty this week, if you keep on being mean like that I’ll eat all of the food myself.“  He said evilly, a devious glint in his eyes. One learned to read Gins facial expressions after hanging out with him for a while. Mijime jumped up at that and down from the tree, landing on top of Gin who let out a loud groan.

“ Never! Give me food!“ Mijime ordered scandalized. Gin let out a loud laugh at that.

“ Miji, you‘re crazy! Get off!“ He told the smaller boy off and shoved him onto the ground. The two of them had been too deep into conversation to notice Rangiku who had jumped towards them as well. Both boys let our a loud groan as she landed on top of them both with a victorious smile.

“ What was that about food?“ She smiled brighter than she ever had before.

 

 

**II**

 

 

The gotei 13 was in uproar. Word had spread that five outsiders had entered Soul Society and even tried to breach into Seireitei. Worst of all, word was that one of them had succeeded at the task. No one had seen the intruder after he had fought against captain Ichimaru Gin of the third division by the gate to the Rukongai. That was exactly why all of the captains had been summoned and with that their lieutenants as well.

 

The lieutenants had gathered in a big room. Hinamori Momo was sulking on the floor, Rangiku Matsumoto was looking at her nails and Renji Abarai was lost in thought. To him, it didn’t matter what word was around Seireitei. He knew what he had seen earlier at the gate. One of the outsiders that had fought beside the Kurosaki kid knew the captain of the third division. One of Rukias friends knew fucking Gin Ichimaru and they weren’t on good terms either. Renji knew that something was going on but the more he thought about everything the more worried he became. The one-armed shinigami had been taken by Ichimaru, Renji had seen it with his own two eyes, but the captain had not said anything to any of his colleagues. If that wasn’t suspicious Renji didn’t know what was. The tattooed man highly doubted that Ichimaru wanted to save Rukia. The guy had no reason to. So what the fuck was going on here?

 

Renji knew, he probably should have told his captain about what he had seen. The thought, that not doing so might save Rukias life stopped him from acting. He really didn’t want to see his best friend die. Not if he could stop it. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t properly speak with his old best friend one last time.


End file.
